In Game 3 of the National League Division Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto outpitched Chris Sale as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-1 on Tuesday night. Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning to give the Dodgers their lead, which Yamamoto protected with seven innings of one-run ball. With this win, the Dodgers now lead the series 2-1, needing just one more victory to advance. The article highlights how the Dodgers adjusted their lineup to combat Sale's pitching, emphasizing strategic shifts and early pressure on Sale despite his strong regular season performance.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Two teams’ seasons were essentially hanging in the balance.
asserted
seasons → hang → balance
And in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, an all-time, old-fashioned, heavyweight October pitchers’ duel came down to two no-doubt, home run swings.
asserted
duel → come → swings
With a 3-1 win on Tuesday night that represented a monumental step in their pursuit of a third-straight World Series, the Dodgers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the best of Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves.
asserted
Dodgers → represent → Sale
Sale gave up a pair of home runs in the top of the fourth inning, with Kiké Hernández launching a two-run blast to left and Freddie Freeman belting a solo shot to right-center.
asserted
Freeman → give → center
Yamamoto made the lead stand up, spinning seven spectacular innings of one-run ball in his latest playoff gem.
asserted
lead → make → gem
And now, the Dodgers hold a two-games-to-one lead in this best-of-five series, needing just one more victory to advance with Tyler Glasnow lined up for Game 4 and Tarik Skubal on deck for a Game 5, if it gets there.
“
asserted
it → hold → Game
We know we’re in for a battle,” veteran Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said pregame.
asserted
Rojas → know → battle
Once again, as they’ve done so often in October over the last couple years, the Dodgers were unfazed by the challenge.
asserted
Dodgers → do → challenge
The night before Game 3’s titanic pitching clash, Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates laid out the situation succinctly.
asserted
Bates → lay → situation
To go deep in the playoffs, he said, “you’re gonna have to beat some really good pitchers …
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you → go → pitchers
You’re gonna have to face an ace.”
asserted
You → go → ace
That, of course, applied to both teams, with Yamamoto making his 2026 postseason debut after a 14-9, 2.53 ERA regular season.
asserted
Yamamoto → apply → season
Still, the left-handed Sale represented a unique challenge for the two-time defending champions, entering Tuesday off the back of a career-best 2.16 ERA this year (even better than his 2024 Cy Young campaign), two clutch performances in last week’s wild-card round, and a five-hit shutout of the Dodgers the last time he faced them in August.
asserted
he → represent → August
Thus, the Dodgers made adjustments.
asserted
Dodgers → make → adjustments
Hernández and Rojas were drawn into the starting lineup, replacing Max Muncy and Tommy Edman to give the club two extra right-handed bats. Banged-up slugger Shohei Ohtani was also dropped to the No. 5 spot in the batting order, the lowest he had hit since the 2020 season with the Angels.
asserted
he → draw → Angels
“I just feel this gives us the best chance to beat the Braves today, and combat Sale,” manager Dave Roberts explained pregame.
asserted
Roberts → feel → Sale
“I feel good about it.”
asserted
I → feel → it
Indeed, the Dodgers had Sale under pressure early and often, putting runners in scoring position in each of their first three trips to the plate (including a bases-loaded opportunity in the third) while driving up his pitch count with stressful, laborious innings.
asserted
Dodgers → have → innings
Still, those were nothing but moral victories initially, with Sale wiggling out of each threat to keep the game scoreless –– with the help of outfielder Mauricio Dubón robbing Freeman of a surefire two-run homer on a leaping, full-sprint effort at the short wall in left in the third.
asserted
Dubón → wiggle → third
An inning later, however, the Dodgers would finally break through.
asserted
Dodgers → break → ?
In his latest bit of postseason heroics, it was Hernández who broke the deadlock from the No. 9 spot, getting a changeup from Sale that caught too much of the inside corner of the plate and sending it screaming out to left for a two-run homer.
asserted
that → break → homer
It was a drive he celebrated with a primal scream as he rounded first base.
asserted
he → celebrate → base
And it turned a tense Truist Park crowd silent, save for raucous reception coming from the visiting third-base dugout.
asserted
it → turn → dugout
Two batters later, the Dodgers bench would be going wild again.
Making his first postseason appearance in Atlanta since leaving the Braves for the Dodgers as a free agent five years ago, Freeman made sure not to be robbed again.
asserted
Freeman → go → agent
He squared up an inside fastball from Sale and uncorked a towering 399-foot bomb, sending it safely over the brick wall in right-center to make it a 3-0 game.
asserted
it → square → center
Of Sale’s 13 career playoff appearances, it was the first since his postseason debut in 2017 in which he had given up multiple home runs.
asserted
he → give → runs
And though the Dodgers have yet to score any way other than the long ball this series –– falling to 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position after another hitless showing in that category Tuesday –– Yamamoto made sure the two big flies would stand up.
asserted
flies → have → category
Tapping back into his historically dominant form from last October, Yamamoto largely breezed through a four-hit, one-walk, 10-strikeout masterpiece, burying the Braves with a flurry of fastballs, curveballs and splitters in a 98-pitch effort.
asserted
Yamamoto → tap → effort
He faced his only real trouble in the fifth, when he limited the Braves to just one run from a bases-loaded, one-out jam.
asserted
he → face → jam
And by the time he turned things over to the bullpen –– where Tanner Scott and, in his return to closing duties, Edwin Díaz finished off the game –– he had already outlasted Sale (who departed after the fifth) and put the Dodgers on track to a pivotal Game 3 victory.
asserted
who → turn → victory
The Aporia
